Build A Stronger Core For Injury Resilience – A Case Study

One of the beauties of Your Performance Journey is that we can meet anyone where they are and guarantee progress…regardless of where they start.
We can go as low as breath or as high as an elite athlete in any sport.
Most who seek our services begin Your Performance Journey in a white strength band and specifically Milestone #2.

Milestone #2: BUILD A STRONGER CORE.
True strength and injury resiliency come from building a stronger core and specifically enhancing reflexive core stability.
Here are two reasons most begin in this milestone:
1. Our modern lifestyles encourage a massive amount of sitting and physical inactivity.
2. A majority of workouts do nothing to improve true strength and enhance reflexive core stability.
There are many case studies I could highlight, but one comes to mind.
Colleen joined us at the end of March because she was seeking a safe and smarter approach to get strong… enabling her to be more injury resilient and improve the shape and tone of her body.
Here are the notes from my initial consultation:
Colleen has Major spine related issues…past herniations in L4/L5 and s1/s2. She has undiagnosed pain and discomfort. The inability of her medical team to determine the exact cause creates anxiety for Colleen. She questions whether she has MS, fibromyalgia, or other. Critical we work with her in an intelligent manner…helping her develop reflexive core stability and avoid loading her movements. If we stick to the White strength band recommendations and exercises she’ll be fine and we will see progress.
Her exercise routine at the time of the consultation included daily walking, regular physical therapy, and 4-5 yoga sessions every week, her movement screen was par, her body mass index was 21.2, and her percent body fat was 22.7.
As you can see from the initial assessment, a smarter approach was critical.

Stabilize Your Spine And Improve Your Posture

Jumping into a bootcamp or big box gym would not provide a level of personalization and progression necessary to transition her from where she was to where she wanted to go.
We recommended 2-3 small group personal training sessions per week and Colleen came aboard.
Due to the extent of her spinal related issues we took two months executing a heavy dose of exercises and movements designed to stabilize her spine (Milestone #2).
On May 7, Colleen demonstrated the requirements necessary to ascend Your Performance Journey and went from the white strength band to the yellow strength band.
She next found herself in milestone #4: IMPROVE YOUR POSTURE.
Colleen’s posture required an education and awareness of neutral spine.
Over the next few weeks, our coaches required neutral spine at all times.
Colleen ascended the system when she demonstrated neutral spine consistently and after I received this text message from Colleen on May 31st:
“Hey hey!! I just saw someone I knew in the hallway at work, she said she thought it was me and said she thought, boy, that person has good posture!! This just makes me SO SUPER happy!!!!!! This just totally made my day!!!! I’ve never heard of a compliment like that in my life about my posture!!”

“Hey hey!! I just saw someone I knew in the hallway at work, she said she thought it was me and said she thought, boy, that person has good posture!! This just makes me SO SUPER happy!!!!!! This just totally made my day!!!! I’ve never heard of a compliment like that in my life about my posture!!”

Here she is on June 4 getting into her Blue Strength Band.
The icing on the cake was this Facebook post on May 20th:
You read that correctly, out of physical therapy and testing at full strength!
Now that Colleen is in a blue strength band she has greater strength, is more injury resilient, and is gradually shaping and toning her body.
We are beginning to introduce skills that will provide even better results.
These skills include ballistic hip hinging otherwise known as a Kettlebell Swing and Turkish Get Ups.
Stay tuned for a future case study and update when Colleen demonstrates the skills necessary to ascend the system and go from a blue strength band to a red strength band.
This is Your Performance Journey…it is the gold standard within the fitness industry and it is the martial art of fitness.

About Korey McCoy

Korey McCoy – M.S. Kinesiology, B.S. Exercise Science, YPJ Coach, SFG II, RKC, ACSM H/FI, FMS, OS, RPR, NKT I, the President & CEO of Plaza Fitness Performance is a 25-year personal training industry veteran, writer, motivational speaker, and educator for young professionals and fitness entrepreneurs. His specialized fitness centers in New York have transformed the lives of thousands. Korey’s book, Your Performance Journey, establishes the gold standard operating system for the fitness industry. Regardless of size, shape, age, and fitness level, anyone can start Your Performance Journey. Personal trainers and coaches now have a way to systematically and logically transform a client from where they are to their genetic potential while guaranteeing per session progression.